


Baby Please Come Home

by SocialDisease609



Category: Terminator (Movies), Terminator - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Fluff, I Made Myself Cry, Time Travel Fix-It, Time travel theory wtf
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:35:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21729697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SocialDisease609/pseuds/SocialDisease609
Summary: Grace comes home for Christmas. How?It's a motherf'ing Christmas miracle, that's how! Don't question it!
Relationships: Grace & Dani Ramos, Grace/Dani Ramos
Comments: 9
Kudos: 111





	Baby Please Come Home

**Author's Note:**

> I told you I'd do it lol  
And because I'm a drama queen, I couldn't make it a typical Christmas fic. No, it had to be a homecoming lol

Dani stood at the precipice of a collapsed floor, deep within an old apartment building, where the whole east half had been destroyed in an explosion years ago. It allowed her to look out into the immediate part of what used to be a small city back before The End. It was a relatively safer area these days, as the war against the Machines was almost over. 

Dani couldn't believe it. She never thought this day would come, where she could confidently tell her soldiers and community that, "yes, we are days away from winning."

Days away!

If only Grace was here to see this. To be by her side, wrap an arm around her shoulder as Dani watched the children play outside, dancing in the snow that started only a few minutes ago- how many years had it been since the youth could do so? They were kicking around a thoroughly abused soccer ball, it's black and white pattern long peeled, trying to sing Christmas songs as they played, but they didn't know many of the words collectively. It didn't stop them from it though.

Dani knew everyone believed all this was done because of her leadership, but of course, while considering every other soldier who put their life on the line for the cause, Grace had been the real reason why they had secured victory. It wasn't just the work of Commander Ramos, it was the sacrifice of Grace Madison, who gave up her future for  _ everyone _ . Grace awakened who Dani was today, and every kill against a terminator was done in her honor. The entire campaign was to honor her memory, but no one knew that. They knew Grace had gone back, but they didn't know they were living a paradox, where Dani knew all along that Grace would have to be sent, even when she found her as a young scrapping teen. 

The qualms of time travel wrecked Dani's mind. She had hoped she could save Grace, but when it came closer to the day, she realized fate had won, and she couldn't bear it. She  _ had to _ send Grace, no one else would be able to, and she had volunteered while Dani remained unconscious from her war wounds. It was over, she had failed Grace in giving her a future. 

A part of her felt she was going insane the more she thought about it. Was it a paradox? Or was it simply an uncountable amount of parallel universes where each time Grace went back, just one thing would end up different. Her mind went through her memories of Grace coming back to save her so many times that they started to fade, and she tried to repair them, desperately recalling what she knew to be truth, but could only summon images of things she  _ knew  _ didn't happen. Her mind was making things up to fill the gaps, she just knew it. 

Grace died. She sacrifices herself. She didn't walk the streets with Dani afterwards. She didn't spend nights sleeping beside her, snuggled into her back. Grace didn't do anything after dying for her. Her mind just wanted to imagine Grace doing more, falling into the stages of grief all over again, hitting denial hard. 

Dani sighed, paying no attention to the fog that left her mouth in the chilly December air, trying to find happiness in hearing the giggling of the children below. 

A soldier came out to join them, dressed in an old and dirty Santa costume, grand white beard and all, dragging an army-issued duffle bag behind him instead of the magical red and gold sack the myth was known to carry. He chuckled a deep and jolly ho-ho-ho! as the children abandoned the ball they were kicking around to swarm him, cheering. Parents stood on the sidelines, holding each other and smiling, watching their children have this moment,  _ finally _ . 

Dani had tried to maintain cultures and holidays as the human community tried to survive, noting how important it was to morale. The attempts of celebrating holidays started off pretty depressing at first, as everyone could only think of was how things used to be, but after a few years, as the sense of community grew stronger and hope burned brighter, the joy and excitement of looking forward to holidays returned. 

The soldier plopped his green bag down on the rubble, going "let's see…" as he dug around through the contents. Dani herself was curious to see what the soldiers had gathered this time. Last year a platoon had managed to find a remnants of a store that had a couple of hot wheels still in tact in their packaging- she had to read a couple reports about soldiers ending up in the hospital for slipping on the toys their children left around. 

"Ah, yes!" Santa pulled out a small plastic box of farm animals. It was probably part of the inventory of what used to be a dollar store. "Who would like these? Be the next farmer?"

A couple of tiny hands shot up in the air, all reaching out. The Santa stroked his beard as he looked around, then settled on giving it to a small girl, around seven. She almost looked like Dani when she was that age.

Santa went back to his bag, moving the contents around again, then settled on his next item. 

"Ah, yes!" He repeated, "A soft and warm rag doll!" He held the doll up, allowing all the children to view it. It wasn't a bad find, to be honest. It was simple, blonde yarn for hair, fabric facial features glued on, and an almost Dorothy-like blue dress on. "Now this one's really special!" The soldier put on a deep gruffly voice, which reminded Dani more of Elvis Presley than Santa. 

Hands shot up again, multiple voices shouting "Me! Me! Me!" The soldier settled on handing it to a boy of five, who was the shortest of the entire group, getting swallowed by the bigger kids, whimpering in fear of not being seen by Santa. 

Santa dug in his bag again, pulling out a wooden handgun. Dani rolled her eyes. She knew that this type of toy had a history since the invention of firearms, and that this was probably fashioned by one of her soldiers, but not a lot of parents approved of this toy, saying it only romanticized the war to children. Santa handed it to a girl who reminded Dani of Grace.

Dani frowned, her mind going back to Grace once more. 

"Want some spiced wine, Commander?" came a voice from behind her. "They found a good reserve this year, might make you feel warm out here." 

Dani turned around to politely decline, but her eyes widened and her mouth trembled agape at who stood behind her. 

"Grace?!" 

Grace smiled, holding two tin cups of wine in both hands. She looked dead exhausted and possible a little older than she remembered sending her off as.

"This- you're not real," Dani said, backing up slowly, her eyes watering instantly. 

"Whoa, hold on, Dani," Grace said, taking quick steps forward, "you got the edge right behind you!" 

Dani stopped, but her mind was racing. 

"How can you be here? It doesn't make sense… I'm losing my mind!" 

"No, Dani " Grace frowned sympathetically and placed the tin cups carefully down on the dusty ground. "I'm really here, Dani. I'm here." 

She took slow steps closer to Dani, as if she were afraid the leader would take off. When she was close enough, she reached for Dani's hand tentatively. 

Dani gasped. 

"See?" Grace whispered, cautiously placing their fingers together. 

"Oh my god," Dani whispered in disbelief. "But you died…" 

Grace shook surprise off her face, clearing her throat, "Maybe I did, as the Grace before me, but… we did it, Dani. Carl said it was a 12% chance, and we got it. I still can't believe it, but I have to, because this is my reality: being alive to see you again."

"Grace…" Dani pleaded, as if she was a ghost come to torment her and now all she wanted was deliverance. "But why do I rememb… " but Dani couldn't remember. She could have sworn Grace died… died by her hand. But her memories were too grainy, too fuzzy to rely upon. 

"I've changed it then," Grace said, reaching with her other hand to cup Dani's cheek. "Whatever had happened, life is different for us now, Dani. It's okay, it's all okay now, I'm back home." 

Dani collapsed, falling into Grace's ready arms, and she didn't care who saw, she sobbed. She wept loudly, all the emotion she worked so hard to suppress rushing forward.

"You did it… you made it back to me."

"Yes, I did. Thanks to you and Sarah. I'm sure the memories will fill in soon," Grace said softly, holding Dani securely to her chest, making sure Dani felt protected. "But I explained the technology of time travel to Sarah, and we used her connections to subtly gather material and tech to build one. We figured, since both you and me thought I wasn't coming home anyway, that if I died while testing it, there… really wasn't anything lost… as morbid as that sounds. Took us some years to gather everything needed, but," Grace took a breath, "we did it." 

"You're home," Dani murmured again, speaking the words into Grace's chest as her searing hot tears soaked the taller woman's thin shirt. "How did you know I'd be here?"

"I didn't," Grace said, beginning to rock them, swaying left and right as they continued to embrace. "I knew the safe places from background knowledge. Once I landed, I was inspected, of course. Had to  _ beg _ the soldiers not o report me, and asked for clothes. As for the date… not gonna lie, Dani, I wanted to make an entrance."

Dani chuckled as she continued to sob. If she focused, she could see her officers watching from the doorway, smiling fondly upon the two. 

"So," Grace looked down at Dani, stopping the comforting sway. Dani looked up, still gripping onto Grace's arms, "Merry Christmas, Dani." 

"Merry Christmas," Dani whispered, tears still streaming down her face. Grace grinned, fondly looking down at her. Leaning, she reached to lift Dani's chin up. On reflex, Dani lifted herself onto her toes. 

Cheers and applause broke off as soon as their lips touched, every soldier and civilian in line of sight feeling truly moved, happiness brimming for everyone as they watched their Commander's knees buckle with emotion, her arms reaching up around Grace's neck to deepen the kiss.

"Merry Christmas!" Many shouted over each other as they continued to clap. "Merry Christmas!"

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you think! I love you all! 😘


End file.
